Minuscule – Mandibles from Far Away is a wonderful film that shows exactly what one might imagine the world of an insect is like. I had the chance to see it recently and being a fan of the shorts that aired on ABC3 when I was younger I jumped at the opportunity.
As the movie opens we find ourselves in the French Alps and everything is shot very much like a nature documentary. The music throughout the film continuous that “documentary” feeling with a score that really adds to the film. We are then introduced to the main insects of the film, a family of ladybugs gathering food for a long cold winter. The animation of the ladybugs, and the other insects like ants and caterpillars in the film, is very cartoon-like as if from a Disney movie, but it works very well contrasted to the live action settings and humans of the world. The animation also adds to the humour at points when the insects high speed chases parody a Star Wars like moment of speeder bike chasers.
The film follows the father ladybug chasing after his son who is accidentally stuck in a box and is shipped of to the Caribbean. We then see a huge variety of insects in the Caribbean whilst the son lady bug tries to stay out of too much trouble in the wild jungle of Guadeloupe. The B-plot is an ant with a spider trying to get across from France to Guadeloupe by an old toy pirate ship.
Both story lines have tonnes of humour in them and will not disappoint with comedic moments that everyone can enjoy.
Max
Minuscule is being screened at the Sydney Film Festival on the 9th and 10th of June.